Bassic Review – Fender MonoNeon Jazz Bass V

The dual-J, custom humbucking Fireball pickups were dialed in and fine-tuned in conjunction with MonoNeon, says Fender, and they sound exceptionally thick, low, and meaty. While Fender doesn’t provide the spec, I’d strongly assume the humbucking coil pairs are wired in series configuration, evidenced by the exceptionally high output and their highly mid and low-focused nature. They are mated to an 18v preamp, which provides a good amount of tonal flexibility, especially for adding a bit of snap and brightness to the amplified tone and perhaps cutting back a bit on the luxurious but profound lows and low-mids. A cool, sub-mini toggle switch is provided between the Mid and Bass controls and selects either active or passive mode; however its positioning can be problematic when adjusting either of those controls, especially the Bass – the lower of the stacked Treble/Bass pot. There doesn’t seem to be a passive tone control when in passive mode, with only master volume and balance functioning in that scenario. With all controls at detent, the active mode has noticeably more output than passive, meaning it’s not a unity-gain style preamp implementation.

The HiMass™ Fender bridge was a great upgrade choice and felt very solid, but I do wish that it provided for the quick release of strings, either via top-mounting through an open channel or alternatively through widened string thread-through ports on the bridge’s rear plate. There are similar bridges that do feature that option, which greatly reduces the time involved when restringing.

Around the back, the custom etched neck plate is also featured in a glistening gold hue, and bears MonoNeon’s caricature likeness. Two quick-release battery compartments are provided with rear access as well, which is something I always applaud – one should always be able to change batteries quickly and without tools, facilitating the process as much as possible, if not just to ensure semi-regular replacement at necessary intervals.

Playing Experience

The MonoNeon Jazz Bass V has a decidedly traditional feel and sound, feeling not at all dissimilar from a typical 5-string Jazz-style bass, and sounding warmer and more full than your typical J due to the Fireball humbucking J pairs. It does buttery, smooth textured bass very well, but can certainly be coaxed into growling and spanking with judicious application of the 3-band preamp. The single-action truss rod was very capable of making significant neck relief adjustments with minimal rotation needed, but unfortunately our tester had high frets at the 4th, 7th, and 11th positions, making a more modern, low/mid-low setup untenable. However, overall fretwork was on par for a bass in this class and there were no hard or sharp fret edges or tangs on either side of the neck to distract from pursuing groove nirvana.

I always feel that fatter, thicker-sounding pickups work better in the bridge position, and Fender’s custom Fireball sounded great soloed, and partially soloed in that position. It’s a sound, to my ears, much more usable than your average single-coil in the bridge position, as the humbucking configuration adds so much more fullness and depth in that placement. But those same qualities are generally why I prefer a more precise, narrow-aperture pickup closer towards the neck, on pain of arriving in Mudsville. The neck humbucker got off the train well before that stop, but it does do a nice dub tone without much coaxing at all when favored.

I would be remiss to avoid noting that the edges of the bone nut were sharp to the touch, though, especially evident on the bass side. More filing was required, here. And as you can see from the photos, the neck pocket could have been tighter, with notable gaps on both sides of the neck. No neck mobility was noted, however, which is obviously a good thing. These items don’t affect normal playability, of course.

The Bottom Line